The Astros are two wins away from wrapping up an AL West title that would lock in a Division Series matchup with the White Sox. That series could see one of Houston’s most prominent hurlers working in a relief capacity.
Zack Greinke landed on the 10-day injured list last week because of neck soreness, his second trip to the IL this month. He’s expected to conclude his regular season with a rehab start on Thursday for Triple-A Sugar Land, manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including Jake Kaplan of the Athletic). Asked about Greinke’s potential postseason role, Baker said using him in relief is “a very distinct possibility.”
Using Greinke in shorter stints would primarily be motivated by workload concerns. The veteran righty has made just two big league starts this month, topping out at 75 pitches on September 14 against the Rangers. With the postseason kicking off next week, there’s some concern Greinke might not be able to ramp back up to work 100+ pitches in a traditional start.
Even independent of injury limitations, it’s debatable whether his performance merits a spot in the Astros’ top three or four starters this fall. Greinke’s 4.11 ERA ranks fifth among Houston’s six starters (minimum 50+ innings), and his peripherals land in a similar position. His 17% strikeout rate is the lowest on staff, while his 11.8 percentage point strikeout/walk rate differential ranks fifth on the team. Greinke ranks fifth on the club in SIERA (4.58) and last in swinging strike rate (9.1%).
Quite obviously, Greinke’s no longer the ace he was at his peak. The former Cy Young award winner’s 2021 season has been average or slightly worse by most metrics. He still has fantastic command, but Greinke’s stuff has dipped to the point where he’s best suited in the middle or back of a rotation.
But Greinke’s potential exclusion from a postseason rotation is also a testament to the strength of the Astros’ other options. Framber Valdez and Lance McCullers Jr. have each ridden huge ground-ball rates to an ERA below 3.25. Luis García should garner some Rookie of the Year support after tossing 144 1/3 innings of 3.30 ERA ball with better than average strikeout and walk rates. José Urquidy doesn’t post big strikeout totals, but he’s a control artist who stays off barrels and perennially outperforms his peripherals. And while Jake Odorizzi hasn’t been fantastic, he’s posted similar numbers as Greinke has, giving Baker and the front office plenty of starting options to choose from come October.
Baker also provided an update on Michael Brantley (via Mark Berman of Fox 26). The left fielder could be reinstated from his own IL stint “in the next couple days,” suggesting he should be ready to go for the postseason. One of the game’s most consistently productive hitters, Brantley has a characteristically strong .315/.367/.441 line (126 wRC+) in 493 plate appearances.
they could add an additional trash can to the playoff roster
They could, but it wouldn’t guarantee them a series victory. White Sox are a good team.
They are, @goastros123.
& “anything can happen in the playoffs” isn’t just cliché. It’s an adage. Maybe a truism.
All that being acknowledged, I would rather face the White Sox than any of the other AL playoff teams. Yanks – for example – came within an injured Zach Britton blown save in the Cornfield Game of sweeping the season series from them. We pushed them all over the diamond.
Ha ha sO funny.
Get over it.
Why so touchy? Truth hurts.
What truth is that? How the Astros have been just as good since they were “caught cheating” as they were before? That is the truth.
As a dodger fan I’m saying to stop. It’s now just annoying
As an Astros fan some of them were very funny in the beginning, because they were original. Now they are completely unoriginal and lame.
I did see a funny one the other day. It was actually original.
I would love to see it 🙂
It was something on Instagram about Siri and a recycling bin. Made me chuckle, then saw it reused a few more times by other dbags and it was done.
The truth is that they haven’t won anything since they’ve been caught cheating. If they win another ring then people might shut up. The Astros won a ring in a manner that was not fair an square. Let’s see them do it on a level playing field.
331 regular season games, three division titles, two 100+ win seasons, and a pennant is nothing? Really?
You can’t be serious, tribe? They were one game away from a pennant last year and won a pennant the year before. 2017 they were just doing what the rest of the league was doing.
I’m with that, @tstats.
Time to move on. There is a contingent of Yankee fans having a hard time letting it go. & hey, ’17 was our best chance (so far!) with this core, the home team won every LCS game, etc etc.
But: we lost.
& no one will ever know the effect it did (or did not?) have. I look for reasons to like baseball. Not things that keep pissing me off about it, uh?
Not to mention the Yankees are suing to keep curious information from 2017 sealed.
There aren’t many good teams from the past 5 years that weren’t cheating with electronics. The NYY, HOU, and BOS are just the teams that were caught. Brewers, Dodgers, Rockies, Rangers, among others were all accused (LAD multiple times) of cheating over the last few seasons.
Mike Fiers ruined the cheating for everyone (cue the smallest violin, playing the saddest song here), not just the Astros.
Let’s also not mention that the Yanks were not fined, stripped of draft picks, nor had anyone suspended.
I’ve moved on because I am done with it. Has nothing to do with some “because we were doing it too” BS. Had we been, we’d’ve been punished too. That’s why there was – ya know – an investigation.
Make sense?
I’m not a conspiracy guy and am not a fan of any involved team but the MLB are pretty biased in all of this and have a history of covering up things/letting people take the fall so as not to damage the sport
Just saying that no punishment does not equal being innocent
It’s getting old honestly, it was 2017 and they are hitting without it.
It’s mostly annoying because people would like to chat about the actual story but can’t because the topic has already been derailed by someone’s “dad joke.”
Ah, the anonymity of discussion boards. Perpetuating public inaneness for decades now.
In ten years, will you still be spewing such retreads from your mom’s basement? Or will you finally have moved on?
I’m reminded of Pavlov’s dog theory…..
It was 3 years ago move on
It’s to the point now where I tend to believe that these people still harping about it are just stupid kids
McCullers and Framber Valdez are obviously their top 2 starters right now. Urquidy should be #3 in their rotation during the playoffs then they will have a choice between Luis Garcia and Odorizzi to be #4.
Does it make sense to have a reliever who throws 86 and doesn’t strike out people anymore?
I get he is a hall of famer or at least close to that but I think he isn’t really suited well as a reliever except when using him as a mob up or middle guy when the starter gets hit early.
Quality starts have been hard to come by lately. I could see Grienke and Ordorizzi doing a tandem start to help limit turns through the lineup without potentially burning the bullpen
That’s my exact thought, however Baker is the manager and he’s not exactly known for being a pitching staff guru.
Fortunately for the Astros Brent Strom is a pitching staff guru.
He is great at fixing pitchers or getting them to the next level, however Baker decides who he gets to misuse in which situation.
Laughable to think he couldn’t throw 100+ pitches just because he’s had a lower workload this month. These guys don’t just magically lose their ability to throw more pitches when they get some rest. They are world class athletes right?
I think Greinke’s mullet deserves in the HOF!
Dear Mr. Moreno,
Based on this article, and others like it, it seems like a good pitching staff is what it takes to make the post season. Maybe you should consider getting us some shiny new pitchers this winter. Just a suggestion, similar to the suggestions made to you over the last decade.
Thanks,
Angels Fans
Dear Angels Fans,
First of all, call me Arte. I’m just a normal fellow like Jeff Bezos, Mick Jagger or George Clooney.
This theory that pitching is important in baseball sounds intriguing. I’ll put my best man, John Carpino, on it and get back to you.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’m always searching for groundbreaking ideas to revolutionize the game we all love.
Your Friend,
Arte
Solid effort.
It’s just a simple math equation. The Astros have four starters with lower ERAs than Zack. Add to the fact that he is not his normal self of late makes this an easy decision. If he was healthy and his normal Zack Greinke self, it’s a no brainer he’s in the rotation. Fortunately for the Astros starting pitching as a strength.
He’s not been the same since he came out and said the Astros don’t trust him. He doesn’t seem to care anymore, he’s just collecting his insane $1MM+ per start and biding time until free agency.
@Scrap
He recently said this is among the best group of guys he’s been around in his career.
I agree though, he seems even more ‘Off’ than usual. Like, when he low key took shots at Dusty for leaving him in after two solid trips through the lineup recently.
Brantley is consistently one of the more underappreciated hitters in MLB.
It’s amazingly how quickly the Astros’ staff shifted from strikeout heavy to a GB machine. With Verlander, Cole, Morton, and McCullers around 2017-2018 they were getting K’s like crazy, but it wasn’t this softer-tossing GB% crew they have now. It’s been a very subtle change for them in recent years.